Twilight (Twilight Saga, #1)

by Stephenie Meyer

[Charli G.]

I have to admit, as I didn’t start reading the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer until after all the major hype began for the series, I went into reading the first book, Twilight, with high expectations. To be honest, I’m not at all sure those expectations were met.

First of all, we have Bella who states at the beginning of the book that she is “exiling” herself to the town her father Charlie lives in, Forks, WA. She doesn’t say why she is doing so at that point, and really, when asked later why she moved to Forks, her answer doesn’t actually give the impression of an exile. It gives the impression of a teenager who simply doesn’t want to stay at home alone.

Plus, we don’t really get any background information other than Bella’s mother hated Forks as to why she left and took Bella. Did she hate Bella’s father? Did she fall out of love with him? There were questions about why they’d actually split up that made me wonder the entire time, but that never were answered. Call me strange but I like to see some background and back story on characters.

Then we have Edward Cullen and his family. We first meet Edward at school when Bella appears fascinated with the group of four students who keep to themselves. Then Edward’s strange reaction at having to share a class and also be a lab partner for Bella leaves you wondering what’s up. Edward does explain why he reacted the way he did later, but still, it leaves you wondering about it.

The back story on Edward and his family is lacking. There simply wasn’t enough back story on the family. The most back story you get is on Carlisle and even then, it doesn’t begin to cover all the years that have passed from when each vampire was created. And Alice’s lack of past strikes me as an easy way out of not having any idea what to use for her background.

The biggest thing that bothered me however, was that there was an entire section I felt was missing from the book. It goes, literally, from Bella being in trouble, to Bella now being saved, with absolutely no record of what happened between her passing out and her waking up. I realize the book is mostly told from Bella’s point of view, but honestly, that would have been a great scene and I’d have loved to have read about the battle between Edward and whats-his-name. A very forgettable character in my opinion as you can see.

All in all, the book was good, a bit draggy in places, but could have used a bit more background and could definitely have used a better ending to the book. I have [b:New Moon|49041|New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)|Stephenie Meyer|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414jgcy2FAL._SL75_.jpg|3203964] coming as soon as BOMC2 ships it, so I’m hoping that the books get better with each coming book. So far, I must say, I can’t see what the hype is all about.